This is a fic that connects Chrome and the Kokuyo gang and their current relation.

sorta 9669 with all the Kokuyo people.

I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

The Kokuyo Gang finally made it back to their grimy and torn amusement park from a mission they had to do in Russia. Apparently Mukuro wanted to interrogate a local gang that got caught in some mafia business with one of the higher-ups of the Noviello Familiga. Mukuro was pleased to receive information about some new type of dying-will weaponry being exported to Italy; he will no doubt acquire it when it will become useful for him.

Walking into the main building of their home, the squabbling of the Kokuyo Gang began almost immediately. Starting with M.M complaining about the horrible condition of their living arrangements and spoke about wanting to be in a mansion or some other expensive building. Ken, being the one who's always irritated by any type of disobedience towards any of Mukuro's choices sharply responded to her whining with blunt insults and baseless reasons, which Fran was quick to affront him on.

Mukuro chuckled at their volatile behavior while Chikusa sighed, mumbling about needing a shower as their flight was full of filthy slobs. Everyone would have continued their usual activities but fell quiet as they heard soft footsteps coming from the north hall. Everyone's killing instinct practically possessed their bodies as they waited for an enemy to appear. The tension was then released when a familiar figure glided through the hall instead, a basket full of food in her small hands.

Chrome Dokuro smiled warmly as she looked at her former gang. She was just upstairs walking through each room and reminiscing of the days she used to stay in the old run-down building. Her nostalgia ended when she heard the creaky front doors open and close followed by an acquainted bickering coming from the first floor. She felt relieved and smiled softly as she recognized the voices.

She knew today was the day all of them returned from their far-away mission and she wanted to greet them the second they came back.

"Oi, Woman what the hell are you doing here?" Ken barked at her harshly, but his concentration fell on the basket of warm food she held in her arms. Chrome was already used to the treatment and merely smiled at her old housemate.

"I thought you all might have been hungry and tired after your trip so I thought I could fix up your rooms and bring you food." Chrome's voice was barely above a whisper but the kindness of her tone echoed in the dark and dank room.

M.M, ignoring the kind gesture took the silence as a chance to speak out "Hey! What did you touch in my room! You better not have touched my clothes; those beauties cost more than what you'll earn in your entire lifetime!"

Chrome was slightly taken aback from her loud accusation but shook it off as she was used to this treatment as well. Instead the pineapple-haired female offered M.M the food with a small smile. The redhead was irritated her words didn't affect her and above all else that this girl was responding with kindness.

This girl has got to be stupid, her level of naivety is far beyond what's physically possible. M.M thought as she swiftly ignored her offer and continued to accuse her of the tampering of her room.

Meanwhile the other members of the Kokuyo gang who didn't talk were just thinking to themselves, a little in awe. Not by Chrome's obvious ignorance of the lashing words that were being thrown at her but how they didn't realize anyone was in the building or that Chrome was even present in the hallway. Mukuro himself was a little agitated as to how he failed to notice her presence.

Maybe he was tired from the flight?

Or he was getting too comfortable with his current company he didn't notice her?

The illusionist quickly scoffed at that idea as he remembered thoroughly scanning for suspicious characters the second he entered the abandoned community area.

But how did she conceal her presence so naturally? The thought itched in his brain. Maybe, Chrome Dokuro was just getting that good. The realization made Mukuro slightly smirk as he thought of how fast his old apprentice was growing.

As he was thinking the powerful man had already made his way to his gang who was now feasting on Chrome's wonderful meal. Even M.M stopped complaining after spotting some fruity dessert she was now reluctantly eating. Seeing everyone eat their fill Mukuro realized how hungry he was himself and took a few rice balls and sandwiches from the assortment.

After their makeshift picnic, Fran, being the blunt and suspicious boy he his asked what had at least lingered through everyone's minds at some point.

"Hey Chrome-senpai, how did you come into the building without us noticing? You weren't trying to collect information on us while we were away were you? If so I've got a ton of embarrassing secrets about Ken and I'd be happy to share notes."

The monotone boy was quickly assaulted at by a raging Ken in his Wolf Channel. While Chrome however, tilted her head in a confused expression, trying to decipher what the boy meant.

"I too am a bit curious of this as well." Chrome broke concentration as she looked to the source of the dark and playful voice that she was very much familiar with. The source continued to speak as he knew his dear Chrome was still a little puzzled by his disciple's question. "Usually we would find signs of a break in, like a tampered door lock or any marks that it's been broken through. As well as we'd be able to differentiate footprints that show people have been in here, because I know for sure people can not come inside here with a clean step."

Chrome pondered his words for a few seconds and then answered plainly. "I didn't tamper with the locks or break the door; I made a key for myself to enter."

Then, as if on cue, Chrome formed an illusionary skeleton key from a twig lying on the ground and placed it on her former master's hand. Mukuro carefully examined the expert illusion, going over the fake teeth of the key to see how it fooled the lock. The male illusionist found himself smiling as he saw no faults in the trick; the man could even feel himself respecting Chrome's increasing skills as he tossed her illusion back to its owner. She didn't bother catching it as she simply dematerialized into nothing but flickers of Mist flames and a stick before it hit the ground.

"What about your footprints? Byon!" Ken entered the conversation as he was trying to strangle Fran, who was to his effort shielding himself from the feral teen with his illusions.

"Oh." Chrome replied serenely as if she forgot about that part of the question when she saw the pride on her former master's face. "I did tell you I was cleaning up here, right? I probably cleaned most of my footprints off the floor."

Her answer was honest and light making everyone feel stupid that they suspected her of anything even slightly malicious.

"What about my traps?" Fran's unwavering voiced sliced through the thoughts of everyone in the room.

"Traps?" Chrome inquired, until something sparked in her eyes. "Oh those were yours? They were really good." Chrome found herself complimenting the boy as she looked back on her memory.

Ken stopped trying to claw out Fran's eyes and stared at him and Chrome in confusion, everyone else followed suit.

"What traps?" Chikusa finally asked, his first few coherent words besides the mumblings he did about how troublesome everyone was during their meal.

"The illusionary traps I set for anyone who tries to go in my room or touch my stuff." Fran answered plainly looking to Chrome for his answer.

"I froze them." The innocent response of what was surely a powerful deed caught everyone by surprise.

"What do you mean you froze them?" M.M looked at Chrome incredulously, retracting her inner comment of how stupid she thought the girl was.

"I used my own illusions to create a thin barrier that's containing them right now." Everyone took a moment to think about what the female illusionist just said.

"You mean… your still holding back Fran's illusions right now, byon?" Chrome nodded to Ken's inquiry.

As the silence continued Chrome thought she would explain "The illusions are preprogrammed to do specific things since there's no illusionist controlling it at close proximity, so I have to hold it back until it begins to fade."

"But how come I can't feel my illusions? Even though I'm not controlling them personally doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to feel them. You did something else lady and I wanna know." Fran was now poking Chrome accusingly; of course he still held his unfeeling voice but it did hold a little suspicion and irritation.

Chrome pondered his question and then blushed as she tried to find an explanation. "I have been told my illusions have a relaxing and sort of tranquil mood to it… Maybe that feeling numbed it out." Her blush grew as she finished vocalizing her idea; she never really enjoyed acknowledging her own power, it felt like bragging.

There was a long silence after Chrome's words. She regretted even speaking at this point until a laugh emerged from a certain pineapple-haired illusionist. "Kufufufu" bounced on the walls until everyone was staring at the source of the infamous laughter.

"Well Chrome, it seems you have become quite strong over the time we have not seen you. You have grown surprisingly powerful with your naïve nature; I hope to see it one day in action." Mukuro Rokudo stated resting his chin on his hand while he sat crossed-legged. Despite his condescending tone it was true that the deceitful man was actually proud.

He found Chrome's illusion to be top notch not just by beginner to expert standards but from liar to insanity inducing standards. As well as the fact stands, Chrome was able to completely halt Fran's preprogrammed illusions from harming her; from the girl's honest words she completely stopped them in their tracks. Even he falls into his apprentice's immature pranks once in a while, though he'd gouge out his eyes and join the mafia if he ever admitted that. But the most surprising thing Mukuro recognized was that Chrome's Mist flames did not alarm his apprentice, or the other members of his gang, or even him, the most powerful illusionist of his generation. Her flames were completely silent as they entered the building, as they had their meal, as they were conversing with each other right now.

Wait.

A small warmth was penetrating into Rokudo Mukuro's senses. He identified that the familiar tingling and realized it was there when he saw Chrome was in the building.

Wasn't that warmth the delicious food Chrome brought in for us?

Mukuro began to think of what the current sensation was.

But all the food is gone now...

Could that be Chrome's kindness emitting from her being?

Perhaps…but I'm beginning to sense it from upstairs-

His thoughts completely ceased as he realized Chrome's flames were emitting that calm warmth from up the north hall in Fran's room. He recognized it as the flame she fought with during the Arcobaleno Representative Battles.

She learned to control it. Mukuro thought lightly to himself.

His eyes then bolted to reality as he saw Chrome standing up.

"Oya oya, are you leaving so soon my dear Chrome?" His smooth voice completely hid the fact he had an internal investigation about Chrome's flames instead of listening to the hectic outbursts of Ken yelling at Chrome to thank Mukuro for his compliment. While Chrome all the while was frozen and completely embarrassed at her former master's comment.

It was when the female illusionist stood up that her face stopped looking like a cherry and her breath stopped heaving so heavily. He remembered she used to faint immediately after his compliments and praise, but not anymore. Her features were now completely composed besides her still reducing blush, Mukuro felt a little disappointed that he knew he couldn't get that reaction out of her anymore, but found it okay for now.

"Yes, I have to finish my homework for school tomorrow." Chrome answered Mukuro's question with almost an unfeeling tone. It surprised all of them how dull her manner became.

"But…" Chrome's emotions began to swell back into her voice "Thank you so much for the compliment, Mukuro-sama." She bowed to him, her sincerity and glee practically spilling from her words.

"Also thank you for eating my food, I am so happy you all enjoyed it." She then bowed to the rest of the gang, the same happiness fluttering from her mouth.

Ken, M.M, even Fran, and Chikusa felt a blush crawling at their faces while they were praised by the female illusionist. Some of them even tried to retort some "Your welcomes" in their own way.

"W-Well if that makes you so happy! Make us some more food to eat! Byon!"

"Pf! It wasn't that good! I know millions of professional chefs that could kick you to the curb!"

"Hm."

"Are you getting cocky now? If you are I can throw up this food to show you it's not all that great."

Chrome simply smiled and giggled at their responses, knowing all too well what these people meant. She then bowed once more, turned gently on her heels and walked out the door. A small sense of disappointment filled the air but then everyone turned back to normal, starting up an argument of who was blushing during Chrome's little thank you.

Everyone except Mukuro joined the conversation as he was eyeing the door where Chrome left. The illusionist soon felt the warmth of her flames disappearing as she was getting farther and farther away from Kokuyo Land. The coldness of the building soon shadowed him once again and a thought ran quickly through his head. It caused a mix of fear, irritation, even a new sense of pride bloomed at the notion.

How did Chrome get so strong?